I updated my HP laptop (about a year and a half old now) to 11 since it came with 10 on it. Can't really complain, the look and feel is a little different and the right click menu contexts changed a little. Copy, cut, and paste are replaced by symbols now. Only glitch I had was after the update it had to then apply a BIOS update because my fingerprint reader stopped working. Has been working quite well, I'm happy with it.
While I have used Linux, I wouldn't recommend it casually to someone who isn't familiar with it already. For one, if it's a fairly recent laptop, you may have a heck of time getting all your hardware working properly. Even if you have an older one you may have issues, like my old Core2 duo laptop that works well with Mint, unless you let it go to sleep. It won't wake up again.
While I have used Linux, I wouldn't recommend it casually to someone who isn't familiar with it already. For one, if it's a fairly recent laptop, you may have a heck of time getting all your hardware working properly. Even if you have an older one you may have issues, like my old Core2 duo laptop that works well with Mint, unless you let it go to sleep. It won't wake up again.